Duke of Cambridge: What Now for William? Future Duties, Roles, Responsibilities

[Winnie]

I've been to a Garden Party and what happens is that the guests (all 2000 of them) arrive early afternoon and have the place to themselves - wander around the garden, have tea and meet people. Those attending are from all walks of life. There is a tendency now to have special garden parties - ie last year there was one for the military and that is the one Harry attended.

Eventually the Royal party arrive and the guests are put into clusters. The royals are "allocated" to a cluster. Certain guests are pre-selected to talk to HMQ but as far I remember that is the only occurrence. Probably only 100 get the chance to talk to a member of the BRF.

The event is for the guests to enjoy BP and does not stretch the skills of any of the royals. It isnt a rite of passage and I think the snarky comments about William are unwarranted.

Thank you for your insight into this "Garden Party" debate. I appreciate your candor and agree some of the comments seem a bit absurd.

 

[Dman]

I'm not sure anyone (at least I'm not) is picking on William on not attending garden parties. I just find it strange that he haven't attended a garden party since 2002. Catherine and Harry have attended garden parties, but William only been to one and haven't been back. I think perfectly fine to wonder and discuss his lack of attendance.

Yes, when senior and working members of the royal family attend garden parties, it is counted as an official engagement in the Court Circular.

 

[muriel]

I'm not sure anyone (at least I'm not) is picking on William on not attending garden parties. I just find it strange that he haven't attended a garden party since 2002. Catherine and Harry have attended garden parties, but William only been to one and haven't been back. I think perfectly fine to wonder and discuss his lack of attendance.

Yes, when senior and working members of the royal family attend garden parties, it is counted as an official engagement in the Court Circular.

I don't think William needs to carry out engagements, including attending garden parties, just because others in the family have, or it will be included in the Court Circular. In my view, it is just not a key step in him being groomed for his future role. To me, it is far more important he assists HM in investitures.

 

[Dman]

I don't think William needs to carry out engagements, including attending garden parties, just because others in the family have, or it will be included in the Court Circular. In my view, it is just not a key step in him being groomed for his future role. To me, it is far more important he assists HM in investitures.

I agree that there are many other thing William can and is assisting The Queen with, but it's just strange and odd that he haven't participated in a garden party for many years. If Catherine, Harry, Charles and Camilla and other royal can attend, so can William. Perhaps he'll try attending this year, but I just find is all odd and odd that it's never been addressed.

 

[soapstar]

It probably hasn't been addressed because it's not a big deal. I imagine if they were important, he would have been attending them.

 

[Dman]

It probably hasn't been addressed because it's not a big deal. I imagine if they were important, he would have been attending them.

Well, I'm not sure Garden Parties are regarded as not "important.' I think the issue over William's lack of attendance at Garden Parties isn't addressed because people just don't know why he don't attend are there are no answers. It's like why William and Catherine haven't attended Royal Ascot? No one knows. Harry attended last year for the first time though. I guess it's down to if they feel like going or not.

 

[hernameispekka]

Well, I'm not sure Garden Parties are regarded as not "important.' I think the issue over William's lack of attendance at Garden Parties isn't addressed because people just don't know why he don't attend are there are no answers. It's like why William and Catherine haven't attended Royal Ascot? No one knows. Harry attended last year for the first time though. I guess it's down to if they feel like going or not.

I think it's not adressed because it's not an issue. He has limited time to do engagements so he does the important family ones, the investures, the charities and a few that he thinks are fun. Would you rather he remove engagements on those groups to do more "frivilous" engagements like the Garden Party or "snobbish" like Ascot? I for one think that those engagements can wait until he's full time.

 

[Osipi]

Odd question. Has it been in the media or anywhere besides here at TRF that someone's even noticed that William hasn't really attended the garden parties? To be honest, I doubt the general public has even noticed.

 

[Dman]

I think a lot of people have noticed that William hasn't been to a royal garden party in years, but really don't know the reason behind his non attendance's. I think William has had plenty of opportunities to go, but just choose not to go.

Again, I'm not picking at William, but just curious about it.

 

[mslewis]

I enjoy seeing photos of these garden parties but I don't think I would want to go to one. Being in a crowd of 2 or 3 thousand people would make be a bit crazy. I wouldn't mind seeing the gardens at Buckingham Palace, though. There was a show on public television a few months ago about the gardens and they are just beautiful. Would love to see them in person.


As for William not attending a garden party . . . I don't think very many people have even noticed. The press always focuses on the women anyway, and what they wear. Who even notices the men?

 

[Skippyboo]

Last year and I believe the year before William did a unannounced Centrepoint visit when Kate was at the BP garden party.


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[Iluvbertie]

I enjoy seeing photos of these garden parties but I don't think I would want to go to one. Being in a crowd of 2 or 3 thousand people would make be a bit crazy. I wouldn't mind seeing the gardens at Buckingham Palace, though. There was a show on public television a few months ago about the gardens and they are just beautiful. Would love to see them in person.

In 2002 when they opened BP to the public the exit was through the gardens (that was the last time I was there). They are magnificent - at least the small section that was open to the public.

 

[Ish]

What seems odd to me about William not doing garden parties or Royal Ascot (and Catherine and Harry not doing more of them) is that you'd think they would be a cheap way to inflate his CC numbers. Really, how much added cost could they be if the event is already occurring and already featuring royals to add in William, Kate, or Harry.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that William doesn't really do these types of events, but I think it would be nice to see him and Catherine do them if only because it would be an engagement they'd could do with his father and grandparents, and I think it's always nice to see the family engagements happen, particularly with the direct line. I like seeing the family interact with each other, and the garden parties and Royal Ascot are events in which you get to see that.

 

[Rudolph]

I couldn't care less if he ever went to a garden party but I do love seeing photos of him receiving ambassadors and performing investitures

 

[Excalibur]

What seems odd to me about William not doing garden parties or Royal Ascot (and Catherine and Harry not doing more of them) is that you'd think they would be a cheap way to inflate his CC numbers.

Perhaps this is the exact reason he doesn't do them any more than he has. William has gone on record that he doesn't just want to be a ribbon-cutter or a plaque un-veiler. He wants to do engagements that are more than just "fluff". JMHO.

 

[Thumbahlina]

So, they just want to work in regular positions alongside everyone else. I hope they can share the comedy and experience the patience the regular working world experiences. One time I was waiting tables in a steakhouse, this guy takes a credit card all cut up and puts it in his food, that wasn't that way when it was served, complains and gets a free meal. I cannot share the rest because those jobs required confidentiality due to the jobs medical involvement, besides, when it is medical it is all medical, nothing is funny. So Duke William gets a view of the regular world he really isn't a part of, but his skill sets are, he has it easy from a social point of view because there isn't one. I don't know what Prince Henry is going to be doing, but when you work, whatever it is you do, it is all about the job. Working is like a hobby, the skill set the tool, the education is the entertainment, the job itself like the payment, the payment the sustaining result that provides basic necessity. So, Duke William is donating his 60 grand salary from being a medic. You gotta be really well off financially to just give that kind of money away like that. He must really love to learn and use what he learned like a need to do so. I can understand being a free medic, but, giving away 60 grand a year is not something I am able to fathom. It's great that he's doing that though.

 

[Skippyboo]

He isn't a medic. He is the helicopter pilot like he was in the RAF for Search and Rescue. It's just for a civilian air ambulance instead of the military which outsourced search and rescue. He already knows how to fly. He just had to pass tests to get a civilian license and now he is training on the specific helicopter he is going to use.


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[Thumbahlina]

He isn't a medic. He is the helicopter pilot like he was in the RAF for Search and Rescue. It's just for a civilian air ambulance instead of the military which outsourced search and rescue. He already knows how to fly. He just had to pass tests to get a civilian license and now he is training on the specific helicopter he is going to use.


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ooooh, ok, thanks for the fyi. He just drives a plane. Well, that's nice. It's such a well paid position, isn't it? My husband is a medic, now that is a seriously important job. Here the pilots of the medic aircraft are also medics, so the difference of one flying medic transport but not being a medic is odd. I read an article that Duke William saved someone out at sea, so I assumed he was a medic. Just a pilot, really, that's something I didn't know.

 

[hernameispekka]

He isn't a medic. He is the helicopter pilot like he was in the RAF for Search and Rescue. It's just for a civilian air ambulance instead of the military which outsourced search and rescue. He already knows how to fly. He just had to pass tests to get a civilian license and now he is training on the specific helicopter he is going to use.


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He is also trained as a bit of medic so that the pilots can help the medics and no places in the helicopter is tken by someone that's not "useful". Plus he will be trained in seeing very bloody accidents. Before he was rescuing people maybe stuck or in the water or such, mostly because of them being in inaccesible areas. Now he will do that as well but also be first responder in accidents were it's so critical that a normal ambulance is to slow. The EAAA said that even if you have worked as a rescue pilot before the level of gruesomeness you see as an ambulance pilot shocks most new pilots. So I think there is an amount of medical training on top of the new helicopter and the more formal thing of getting the civil licence. The 14 tests that has been talked about is only the written tests. On top of that is prectical training and flying tests.


Also.... "Just a pilot"... that's nice...

 

[Iluvbertie]

Let's remember he inherited millions of pounds from his mother, doesn't pay any rent for his homes, has his official expenses paid for either by The Queen or Charles and has his private expenses supplemented by Charles so donating 60,000 dollars isn't that big a deal as he has a much greater income from other sources.

 

[hernameispekka]

Let's remember he inherited millions of pounds from his mother, doesn't pay any rent for his homes, has his official expenses paid for either by The Queen or Charles and has his private expenses supplemented by Charles so donating 60,000 dollars isn't that big a deal as he has a much greater income from other sources.

I agree. And the positive press is very high for a relativly small price for them.

 

[Pranter]

Just a pilot? That's like saying a woman who stays home to raise her children is just a housewife.

Sheesh people go educate yourselves on what it takes to be a helicopter pilot.


LaRae

 

[TLLK]

I don't think William needs to carry out engagements, including attending garden parties, just because others in the family have, or it will be included in the Court Circular. In my view, it is just not a key step in him being groomed for his future role. To me, it is far more important he assists HM in investitures.

I have to agree. Assisting HM in her duties with the investitures, representing the UK on overseas visits (Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, U.S.) and starting to participate in incoming state visits are IMO more in line for the training he needs.

 

[hernameispekka]

Just a pilot? That's like saying a woman who stays home to raise her children is just a housewife.

Sheesh people go educate yourselves on what it takes to be a helicopter pilot.


LaRae

I agree. Even being "just" a cashier or "just" a plumber is rude to say... And an ambulance pilot is rarely put as a job in the "just" category... People are really stretching themselves there finding faults!

 

[Lady Nimue]

Just a pilot? That's like saying a woman who stays home to raise her children is just a housewife. Sheesh people go educate yourselves on what it takes to be a helicopter pilot. LaRae

In fairness, I think all the poster meant was that as a pilot he was 'just a pilot' rather being both a pilot and a medic. That's what I read. Just trying to be helpful as it seems the phrase has taken on a life of it's own.

 

[Pranter]

Maybe so Nimue...


LaRae

 

[hernameispekka]

In fairness, I think all the poster meant was that as a pilot he was 'just a pilot' rather being both a pilot and a medic. That's what I read. Just trying to be helpful as it seems the phrase has taken on a life of it's own.

Yeah, I think it was a bit of that But still xD

 

[royal rob]

He is also trained as a bit of medic so that the pilots can help the medics and no places in the helicopter is tken by someone that's not "useful". Plus he will be trained in seeing very bloody accidents. Before he was rescuing people maybe stuck or in the water or such, mostly because of them being in inaccesible areas. Now he will do that as well but also be first responder in accidents were it's so critical that a normal ambulance is to slow. The EAAA said that even if you have worked as a rescue pilot before the level of gruesomeness you see as an ambulance pilot shocks most new pilots. So I think there is an amount of medical training on top of the new helicopter and the more formal thing of getting the civil licence. The 14 tests that has been talked about is only the written tests. On top of that is prectical training and flying tests.


Also.... "Just a pilot"... that's nice...

???


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[Osipi]

Being on scene where every second is critical (usually here they call for air evacuation in the most serious of cases) is a job where you almost have to have nerves of steel and I think is one of the most emotion draining experience one can come into. In Wales, there was also the element of rough terrain and nasty weather and I can imagine sometimes, even in East Anglia, there will be times when navigating a "hot landing" requires every ounce of stamina one has.

I'm sure William could have kept his salary if that is what he wanted to do but I think donating it back to support the service he is doing sends the message of how important the work these rescuers do. I think he's picked a very noble way of serving the people and the community around him. That's what neighbors do. Look after each other.

Even as a pilot, as mentioned, he would need to have some emergency medical training I bet. Here in WV, even if "just the driver", we are required to have at least the qualification of EMT-B. Emergency Medical Technicial - Basic

 

[Iluvbertie]

I am sure I remember reading somewhere that he was donating the salary to another charity not the air ambulance.